Disclaimer: I don't own, blah, blah, blah. Y'all know the drill.

No reviews since this is another back-to-back update. They are always appreciated though! Your question answered about Rae's habbit of hacking up that lovely red stuff!


Raven's eyes felt as if they had been sewn shut. She wondered if the feeling of tearing skin was real or imagined as she peeled them slowly open. Stark white walls, unwelcome sunshine, and the reek of antiseptic greeted her as she forced her body to sit up despite her protesting muscles. Her entire body ached as if she had been hit by a truck, and upon recalling her most recent memories, she wouldn't be surprised that she had been run over. Heck, why not? Nearly everything else had happened, so what was one more thing on the increasingly long list of bizarre occurrences she had experienced?

Pressing her palm against her eye, Raven thought back on the previous twenty-four hours. The encounter with the two responsible for her brother's murder replayed in her mind, over and over again. The opportunity for revenge had been right there at her fingertips, only to slip away and fall into someone else's hands. As if that weren't enough, her reckless behavior had gotten Edward injured, no doubt hospitalized just as she was, and she never even discovered what had happened to Alphonse. She felt like a selfish idiot.

"How are you feeling?"

Raven jumped slightly at the sound of Al's voice, and then winced in pain as her side screamed in dissent. It had been thoroughly wrapped in white bandages that were in need of replacing, and no amount of painkillers swimming through her system could numb the aching wound.

"I'm fine," she lied with a reassuring smile.

Huddled in a corner, Al sat cross-legged facing her bed. An almost tangible gloom seemed to hover over him like a dark cloud, and even his voice sounded dreary. "That's good," he half-heartedly replied.

A frown line appeared between her eyebrows. "Al, what's bothering you?"

He shook his head slowly. "I'm just thinking."

"About what?"

Hesitating, Al lowered his gaze to his hands, then back up at the patiently-waiting girl in the hospital bed. His thoughts flashed back to the night they had snuck into the Fifth Laboratory nearly two days ago, after his provoking encounter with Barry the Chopper.

The building had begun to collapse some twenty minutes after Raven stealthily crept in after Ed, shaking the very ground beneath him. Lieutenant Ross and Sergeant Brosh had arrived on the scene only moments ago, and the instant the first shock waves had reached them, Barry took off like a bat out of hell. Ross was prepared to go into the crumbling building in search of the missing alchemists, but her would-be efforts were proven unnecessary.

One of the walls caved in, sending up pillars of dust and chunks of concrete. From the massive hole in the wall, a hulking figure stepped out calmly despite the wreckage surrounding it. As it drew nearer to them, Al realized that it was a strange-looking man, with something slung over each of his shoulders.

The man grinned as he casually made his way up to them, looking oddly at ease compared to what was going on around them. "There you are!" he exclaimed. "I brought a couple little presents for you." He swung the limp bodies of Ed and Raven off his shoulders and laid them to rest carefully on the grass at Al's feet. Straightening up, he smiled pleasantly. "This one's life isn't in danger," he remarked, jerking a thumb at Ed, "but he has lost a lot of blood. I don't know what's up with her though," he now directed his attention at Raven. "She randomly started coughing up blood and just about half her lung. You might want to get them to a hospital as soon as you can. They're precious resources..."

"Al?" Raven's worried voice dredged him back from his unnerving memories.

He sighed heavily. "Lieutenant Ross told me about what happened."

Raven's green orbs flashed, and she mashed her lips together in a tight line.

"How long have you been coughing up blood?" Al continued.

Raven remained silent.

"Why does it happen?"

More silence.

"How long has it been going on?"

Silence.

Al's carefully constructed patience finally fell apart. "I'm tired of never getting an answer from you! Why don't you ever tell us what's going on?"

"I'm dying, Al."

If he'd had a normal human body, his breath would have frozen in his chest. "What?" he asked softly.

Raven's usually brilliant green eyes looked dull and tired, as if she was burdened by a great weight. "I told you that I gave up my arms from the elbow down performing human transmutation and trying to bring my brother back to life. Well, that's true, but there's more to it." Her fist knotted in the thin bed sheet. "A part of my soul was also taken, my life force.

"A body can't sustain itself for very long without its entire soul. It's like having a portion of your heart ripped away. It may take years, but you'll eventually die from it. Coughing up blood is only a side effect, but in a way, it's a useful tool in helping calculate how much time you have left until your body gives out. The more frequently it happens, the closer you get to the end," she explained.

"That's why you were so interested in bioalchemy," Al voiced his realization aloud. "That's why you came with us to find the Philosopher's Stone."

Nodding solemnly, Raven continued, "When I came to the conclusion that bioalchemy was a dead end, I knew that my only chance at living was finding the Philosopher's Stone. Getting my arms backs was something I wasn't overly concerned with; restoring my soul became my primary goal. I have to find the Stone. I have no choice," she finished quietly.

Silence filled the air as Raven allowed her words to sink in.

"Why?" Al finally asked. "Why didn't you tell us this earlier?" be exclaimed.

"Because it's not your burden to bear, it's mine," she responded indignantly. "It's my mistake and I'm paying for it. I refuse to drag you two down with me. You have enough on your minds as it is, and the last thing I want is for you to worry about me."

"Is that why you told Lieutenant Ross to keep it a secret from us?"

"Yes, and it's the same reason you have to promise not to tell Ed."

There was a brief moment where the room stood still, and then swiftly shattered into tiny fragments. "What? Why? You honestly expect me to lie to my brother?"

Raven's expression hardened. "That's exactly what I expect," she said seriously.

"But you have to tell him!" Al objected. "He ought to know!"

"What do you want me to say, Al?" she asked, her voice eerily calm but hinting at a tightly controlled temperament. "What do you want me to say?You want me to walk up to Edward and say, 'Hey, how's it going? Oh, by the way, I'm slowly dying from having part of my soul ripped out, and I've been coughing up blood since I was eight because of it. What's new with you?'" Her eyes hardened into emeralds. "How do you think he'd react?"

CRASH!

Leaping to her feet, Raven jostled her side and felt her wound tear open slightly as she crawled out of the hospital bed. Moving carefully, she managed to lug the heavy door to her room open, and froze.

Standing fixed as a marble statue in the hallway outside her door, was a shell-shocked Edward. A cracked plastic tray lay at his feet, bits of food and ceramic dishes strewn about on the floor. Reluctantly drawing her eyes up to his face, she saw that it was a mask of horror and astonishment, his wide golden eyes filled with hurt and betrayal. "Is it true?" he whispered, his words barely audible.

Wiping the panic written plainly on her face away, Raven attempted to compose herself. "I can explain..." she began.

"Is it true?" he repeated in a louder voice, tight with restrained anger.

Looking off to the side, Raven refused to meet his gaze, and remained silent.

"Let me guess," he continued in a sarcastic tone. "You didn't want us to worry?"

Still, she said nothing.

"Are you really just gonna stand there like that?" Ed shouted. "Why don't you ever tell us what's going on? We have a right to know, damn it!"

Finally, Raven picked up her head and stared at him with dead eyes, looking older and more tired than a fifteen-year-old ever should. "Are you finished?" she breathed.

Ed's mouth mashed together in a hard line, his eyes blazing furiously like wildfire.

Sighing, Raven suddenly felt exhausted, both physically and mentally worn out. "Alright then," she murmured, slipping out the door and shuffling past a still-frozen Ed, ignoring the discarded food splattered all over the hall. As she went to move around him, Ed's hand shot out and grabbed Raven's arm. She paused, waiting for the imminent explosion she had been anticipating.

"At least explain why," he said through clenched teeth, obviously fighting to keep his temper in check. "Why didn't you tell us about this before?"

Hesitating momentarily, Raven carefully pried Ed's fingers from her arm and returned them to his side. His eyes glanced down at her stomach where he saw red beginning to seep through her soiled bandages and now her mint green scrubs. Once again, he knew she was in pain, but hid it too well. She was a far better actress than he had originally credited her for, and that only added fuel to his rage. She would never tell them the truth about what she was going through, would she?

"I didtell you," she finally said. "You just never heard me."

Despite her aching side that urged her to return to her bed, Raven's feet led her down the hallway and around the corner, disappearing from sight.

Ed's fist clenched and unclenched involuntarily without his even being conscious of it. First his brother, now Raven. Everyone was keeping secrets from him.

I did tell you.

As her words rang through his mind, they summoned up memories of his past conversations with her. Two in particular drifted to the surface of his conscious. First, back in Risembool when she had snapped at him. I've had so much taken away from me. My family. My home. My arms. My identity. My own soul! He never would have imagined that her words were literal, that she had actually given up a part of her very core. I've already sold my soul,she'd told him back in the Fifth Laboratory. Again, he words had been literal, but he'd misinterpreted them as something else entirely.

"Damn it," he hissed under his breath. "How the hell was I supposed to know? Why didn't she just tell me?"

His brother rose from his seat on the floor from where he had tucked himself away in a corner and stood in the doorway, staring at the spot Raven had disappeared. "I'll go talk to her," he said quietly, moving out into the hallway.

"No," Ed managed between his teeth. "I'll go. I'm done with all the crap; I need to hear it straight for once."

Al shook his head. "You'll only upset her more if you keep yelling at her. I'll go; you stay here and let your wounds heal. Neither of you have recovered yet, and you still need to get your arm fixed," he reminded his brother, already heading to where be had a good hunch where the girl would be hiding.

There was more he wanted to say, more he wanted to ask his older brother, but he would save it for later. When the pair of alchemists weren't at each other's throats, for example. Assuming, of course, that day ever came.


A cool, light breeze blew strands of Raven's hair in her face, her bangs tickling her eyes. They gazed out at the bustling city below her, unseeing and uncaring from the hospital roof above. An elderly couple walked hand in hand in the street directly below her, smiling and laughing while they reminisced about 'the good old days'. There was a time in her life when she wished she'd never grow up or grow old. Now that living to be at least half the couple's age was impossible, Raven felt envious of the pair. They could have a long, happy life together. They had something that would probably never be hers.

The last time she had been coughing up blood at regular intervals was over a year ago, and at the rate it was going now, Raven figured she had at most ten, fifteen years left in her lifespan. Finding the Philosopher's Stone was critical at this point, but she found herself treading with caution on the subject. Was saving her life really worth the lives of countless others? Were hundreds of people worth having the chance to walk in the same shoes as the old and withered white-haired people below?

Her hand wrapped strands of her silver bangs around her mechanical fingers. "Do you want to know why my hair is white?" she asked aloud.

At first, there was no reply but the whistling of the wind. Then, a tired, childlike voice finally replied, "Does it have something to do with your soul?"

She turned her head slowly around to gaze solemnly at the suit of armor she now called family. After the morning's events however, she wouldn't be surprised if he hated her. She couldn't blame him; she hated herself for what she'd brought upon the Elrics.

"It sped up my aging process a bit," she explained. "Part of my hair turned white like an old woman's, and I matured faster than anyone anticipated from an eight-year-old." She smiled to herself, barely lifting the corner of her lips. "Somehow though, I always stayed a short little pipsqueak," she mused. She stared out long and hard at the horizon, wondering how many more times she would get to see the sun rise and set. "I know this is gonna sound pretty weird, but I wish I was like you, Al. You don't have to worry about your body shutting down on you." She glanced down at her red-stained torso that had recently gone numb. "Or bleeding, for that matter," she noted tonelessly, turning back to people-watching.

Shifting uncomfortably, Al replied, "You should really come back down and rest. You need to give yourself time for your wound to heal."

Ignoring his statement, Raven said, "What's really bothering you, Al?" Smirking over her shoulder, she almost looked like her normal self. "Don't try and lie to me. I know something's up, so tell me."

Al avoided her gaze, staring blankly at the ground. He found that he had an uncanny knack for reading the girl, but he had not anticipated her retaliation of finding the weak spots in his carefully constructed emotional barrier. He also found that unlike her, he couldn't keep a secret. "I'm not sure what to believe anymore. How can I know for sure that I ever really existed? Who's to say that my memories, my life, ever existed?" he asked, his voice cracking.

"That's simple, idiot!" Raven stated, spinning around and marching up to the suit of armor, getting within one foot of him. Her eyes were hard as she glared up at him, poking a mechanical finger at his chest plate. "Ask him yourself."

Al held his breath, not expecting her answer. "What?"

"Ask your brother yourself," she repeated more slowly, putting emphasis on each individual word. "He's the only one who can give you the answer you need to hear." She paused, cocking her head to the side and narrowing her eyes at him. "How long have you been sitting on this? When did you start thinking about these things?"

"I-" he began, but his voice faltered until it altogether failed him. "I'm sorry," he murmured under his breath.

Raven's eyes misted over as she gazed sadly at Alphonse. They were all so young, but carried the burdens of those who surpassed them by fifty years. They were tortured with the tasks of living out a special kind of hell that no one their ages should ever have to experience.

Finally, she caved in and wrapped her arms around the suit of armor in a tight hug. "No more secrets," she murmured into a plate of cool metal. "No more keeping things hidden. Deal?" she offered, pressing her cheek against him.

After recovering from his brief moment of shock, he tenderly wrapped his arms around her tiny figure. "Deal," he agreed.


"Why the hell can't these things ever work out the way they're supposed to?" Raven moaned as she pinched the bridge of her nose and leaned back against the pillow of her hospital bed.

Winry stood gaping in the doorway, Major Armstrong hovering silently and diligently behind her. Her toolbox dangled loosely in her grip to the point where Raven was convinced that the girl would drop it. Her usually bright blue eyes were clouded over with dismay as she stared openmouthed at the bedridden girl. Raven's shirt was pulled up to expose her midriff, which she was currently wrapping in fresh bandages- a task the understaffed doctors seemed to constantly forget. Though the wound was readily healing, an angry red scar still marred her otherwise smooth and fair skin. Winry's lips were moving, forming words, but no sound came out.

Raven shrunk back a bit into the mattress, smiling sheepishly as she nonchalantly pulled the coarse fabric down over her stomach. "Uh, hey Winry," she said hesitantly. "How's it going?"

Finally regaining control of her voice, Winry's mouth formed a tight line. "What happened?" she demanded.

Scratching the back of her head, Raven swung her legs over the side of her bed and rose steadily to her feet. "You came because of Ed's arm, right?" she attempted to distract the blonde. "I'll show you to his room," she offered, leading a silently fuming Winry down the hall to the room she knew Ed was in.

As she led her down the busy hall, Raven could feel the waves of anxiety and hostility rolling off of Winry. She had been careful to change the subject about the events concerning the Fifth Laboratory, and she could sense Winry's tension as she patiently waited for an explanation that would never come. A part of Raven couldn't blame the girl for being upset about being kept in the dark; as a close friend of the Elrics, Raven thought that she deserved a bit more from the brothers. But then again, hadn't Raven done the exact same thing and kept things hidden?

When they reached his room, Raven paused outside the door, her hand resting lightly on the doorknob. She turned to Winry. "Don't freak out, okay? And don't be too hard on him; he's got a lot on his mind at the moment," she said, earning her a slightly worried glance from Winry.

Without preamble, she tugged the door open slowly and gestured for Winry to enter. She did, and abruptly stopped dead in her tracks. She stared, wide-eyed at Ed sitting on the edge of his bed, wrapped in bandages and his right arm in a sling. "What happened?" she exclaimed in demand, the large toolbox finally falling out of her grip and landing on the floor with a harsh clunk. Lieutenant Ross stood at the doorway, keeping careful watch and looking ready for the worst, Sergeant Brosh mirroring her as Armstrong assumed a similar position near the doorway. Judging from Winry's expression, Raven figured that she knew that they were acting as security guards, which only seemed to fuel her incessant worrying.

Ed's forehead broke out in sweat. "That didn't take long," he muttered to himself. "You're gonna charge me an express service fee now, aren't you?" he said lightly, trying to let Winry know he wasn't in that much pain.

To everyone's surprise, Winry shrunk back a bit, looking suddenly downcast. "No, I… I won't charge you for this. I didn't do a good enough job on your automail last time," she said gloomily, averting her eyes to the floor. "And now you're badly injured," she sounded on the verge of tears.

Every pair of eyes snapped to Ed, glaring at him with varying amounts of intensity, but they all said the same thing: 'you made her cry.'

Twitching under their piercing gazes, Ed was quick to reassure her. "It's not your fault!" he exclaimed, waving his good arm around frantically. "You can't blame yourself for this! I broke it because I was being reckless! Your repairs were as flawless as ever! This was all my fault!" With his eyes, he deliberately glanced at Raven who was half hidden behind Winry. Though she knew he would never say it, the fault also fell on her shoulders for their current position.

After a brief moment of silence, Winry broke out in hysterical laughter, thoroughly surprising everyone and leaping over to Ed's side with a strange twinkle in her eyes. "Well then, let's go ahead and get right down to business, shall we?" she said giddily. "I'll have to charge you the usual rush order fee of course," she added with a grin, making Ed's mouth fall open in astonishment. Something on her left caught her eye, and she glanced off to the side to see a bottle of untouched milk sitting beside an empty cafeteria plate. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance at the boy. "You didn't drink your milk," she stated accusingly.

Ed scowled. "Why should I? I hate it," he muttered contemptuously.

"You're going to be small and stunted forever if you keep using that stupid excuse!" Winry shouted in vexation.

"Shut up!" Ed shot back defiantly. "I don't have to drink it if I don't wanna! I'm not the only one!" he pointed a finger accusingly at Raven, who was trying with difficulty not to laugh. "She's worse than me!"

Raven's eyes widened and her laughter died in her throat as Winry turned her reproachful gaze at her, trying her best to look innocent but failing miserably under the other girl's scorning eyes. "Is that so?" Winry asked, although she already knew the answer.

"Uh," a bead of sweat ran off Raven's forehead. "I'm deathly allergic to it?" she tried.

"Liar!" Winry and Ed spat in unison.

Raven threw her arms up in vexation. "Well sorry if not everything I do lives up to your standards and I don't like something you do! Sorry that I actually have good taste!" she shouted in defense.

As if appearing out of thin air, Major Armstrong loomed up over her from behind and glared down at her like a bug under a microscope. "You both sound like spoiled little brats!" he fumed, ripping off his shirt and unnecessarily flexing his massive muscles.

Instinctively, Raven flinched away from him, but ended up bumping into Winry instead. The girl grabbed her ear and dragged her over by Ed, neither of them looking pleased to be near each other, and smacked their heads together. "It's no wonder you're so short," Winry yelled in Raven's ear, "you're as bad as he is!"

Ross folded her arms over her chest and looked at the pair of them like a scolding teacher. "Every growing child needs to drink milk," she stated firmly.

"Yeah," Brosh added in encouragement. "Don't you want the girls to like you?" he rhetorically asked Ed. "And don't you want to… grow into yourself a bit?" he hesitantly said to Raven, not sure of the right words to say to her.

Her mouth fell open as she stared at him with eyes that screamed 'what the freaking hell?' "Why is it that all of you have to be freaking perverts? There's more to a girl than just boobs you know!"

Winry abruptly pulled her into a headlock. "Just drink the damn milk already!" she vented, pulling on Ed's cheek as if it would make him do as she wanted.

Out of the corner of her eye, Raven caught a swift glance at the door as it softly closed with a click, the unmistakable glint of metal plates reflecting sunlight into the room. She blinked, seeing that by now most of the room had turned to stare questioningly at the door, wondering where the sound had come from. "Was that Al?" she asked to no one in particular, and no one seemed to hold the answer for absolute certain.

As suddenly as Winry had taken hold of her, she released both Raven and Ed, but demanded that Raven remain in the room while she went to work on Ed's arm. Though every bone in her body screamed for her to leave and go find Al, she resolved herself to sitting cross-legged in the corner of the room. While she sat glaring off to the side at nothing in particular, Winry was hunched over Ed's arm, working meticulously. He lay on his stomach, facing the wall so she could work on his arm from a better angle, but also so that he could more easily ignore the sulking girl in the corner.

After a few minutes of complete silence besides the scraping of metal pieces against each other, Winry voiced her growing suspicions. "Is something going on between you two that you're acting like this?"

Rolling her eyes, Raven retorted, "Other than the fact that Ed decided to return to first grade and give me the silent treatment, no, not really," she stated and folded her arms across her chest.

Even from across the room, she could hear Ed's teeth as they ground together. "Other than the fact that Raven's going to die any day now, nothing new," he shot back.

Thumping him lightly on the back of the head with her wrench, Winry frowned. "So what, now you're threatening to kill her?"

Though she couldn't see it, Raven knew that Ed was smirking into the wall as he replied, "Oh that's right! You don't know, do you? Raven lost part of her soul when she performed human transmutation and it's slowly killing her," he stated with false enthusiasm.

Pausing from tightening a bolt into place, Winry turned to stare at the grimacing Raven. "What?" she said softly. "Is he serious?"

Glaring pointedly at a smug-looking Edward, she answered, "Yes. But since Ed's a moron, he didn't figure it out until the third time I told him. Insensitive deaf jerk," she muttered under her breath.

"Oh, so now it's my fault?" Ed drawled. "Do you just never tell anyone the whole truth about anything, or do you reserve that especially for the people that actually care about you?"

"Fact: never tell people about your problems. Twenty percent honestly don't care and the other eighty percent are glad you have them," Raven rattled off.

Her statement was enough to tick him off to the point where he finally sat up and turned around to glare at her, his hand twitching to throw Winry's wrench. "Contrary to your belief, not everyone in the world is out to get you. I've told you how many times now that you can trust us? Sounds to me like you're the deaf one here."

Shaking her head in feeble attempt to clear it, Winry blinked fiercely, scrutinizing Raven more closely. Now that she knew the truth, she could see finer details she had overlooked about Raven when she had first met the girl. There were bags and bruise-like dark circles under her eyes, and she seemed to radiate exhaustion. Her collarbone was extremely prominent, and she seemed even slimmer than usual, as if she had lost weight. Winry's eyebrows furrowed. "He's right; you should have told us. We're your friends, you can lean on us you know," she said as the corner of her mouth twitched up, her best attempt at a smile.

Taken aback by her unexpected kindness, Raven blinked. "I just…" she began, but words failed her. Her excuse suddenly seemed pathetic, even to her. Especially to her

Sensing her sudden mood swing, Ed laid back down on his stomach to allow Winry to resume her repairing. He was nowhere near ready to let her off the hook, but he figured that his method of constant insults wasn't very progressive and results weren't promising. He inclined himself to allow her time to mull things over for herself, give her a chance to decide where to go from here. "If you ever want to talk… we're always here for you," he said softly, burying his face in his pillow.

Fidgeting in her place, Raven replied sheepishly, "Well, this doesn't have a whole lot to do with me, but I'm really worried about Al," she admitted, hugging her knees to her chest.

Ed propped his chin up higher on his pillow. "I've noticed that too. He's been acting really weird lately."

Not breaking stride from her work, Winry screwed a bolt into place as she questioned, "Weird how?"

Sighing, Ed sunk back into the soft down of his pillow. "It just seems like something's been bothering him," he replied softly.

Raven was tempted to say something, steer Ed in the right direction of talking with his brother, but she hesitated. This was something the brothers needed to work out themselves, and she knew all too well the consequences of interfering in other people's business. Maybe she could hint at Ed to talk to his younger brother and set things right with their past, but then again, Ed never was one to take a hint. Raven frowned. Yeah, even after I gave him three he was still as clueless an idiot as ever.

"Okay," Winry's voice broke Raven out of her reverie. "You're all set," she announced, pulling off her worn-out work gloves.

Pulling himself into a sitting position, Ed rotated his shoulder, testing out the new gears. "Feels good to have it back!" Ed beamed. "Wow, thanks a lot!"

Raven smirked, raising an eyebrow. "Now you know how I felt when your nonexistent sense of direction cost me my arms," she teased.

Ed rolled his eyes, but grinned anyway. Winry however cocked her head to the side questioningly. "Cost you your arms?" she muttered softly.

Realizing her mistake, Raven scratched the back of her head nervously. "Uh..."

To her relief, the door burst open and Maes Hughes strutted inside, his usual wide smile etched on his face. "Yo!" he greeted. "Ed, my boy! Is it true you brought a pretty blonde girl to your room to service you?" he said with a straight face.

Raven had to cover her hysterical laughter with both hands as Ed slid from his bed onto the floor, landing solidly on his face. Behind him, Winry's jaw dropped slightly, her face flushing tomato red. Lifting himself to his knees, Ed shot back, "She's my automail mechanic! That's it! Nothing more!" he said quickly, a light blush spreading across his cheeks.

Hughes's eyes flashed in acknowledgment. "Oh, I see," he said thoughtfully, rubbing the stubble of a beard on his chin. "You've seduced your mechanic, have you?"

Ed slapped his palm against his forehead. "No! That isn't what I said at all! Were you even listening to me?" he shouted in vexation.

Raven broke out in a fit of laughter, clutching her side as tears sprang from her eyes. This drew Hughes's attention to the girl in the corner lying on her back and rolling on the floor as another bout of laughter took her. His grin widened as a sudden thought occurred to him. "And you, my little Rae," he pointed an accusing finger at her, stifling the giggles in her throat. "I heard that you were locked in a very passionate embrace up on the roof with a certain younger Elric brother," he folded his arms over his chest triumphantly.

Now it was Raven's turn to blush. "It was just a hug!" she stuttered, scrambling into a sitting position and trying her best to avoid eye contact with Ed. From the corner of her eye, she could see he was staring at her with bulging eyes and openly gaping expression. "It's not even possible to do whatever gross thing you're thinking! We were only hugging!" she added quickly.

Chuckling at the amount of commotion he had created, Hughes walked over to the side of the bed, extending his hand out welcomingly to Winry. "Maes Hughes," he introduced with a pleasant smile. Smiling back, Winry graciously accepted his hand, which he began to shake enthusiastically. "I'm pleased to meet you, young lady."

"Winry Rockbell," she responded, not at all bothered by his behavior.

Coughing loudly to break the moment, Raven distracted the Lieutenant Colonel's attention from the avid hand-shaking. "Um, not that it's not great to see you Hughes, but don't you have work to do?" she asked sheepishly.

Turning to her with a victorious expression, he replied, "It's all under control. I gave Sheska some overtime."

Sliding back up from the ground and onto hid bed, Ed retorted, "You're a real jerk, aren't ya?" he stated more than asked, but Raven could still hear the joking undertone in his voice.

"Oh yeah," Hughes continued as if Ed had never spoken, "I think you'll be happy to know that you, Al, and Rae shouldn't have to be kept under guard for too much longer."

Breathing a sigh of relief, Raven said, "Finally! Freedom!"

Ed nodded in agreement. "That's great news!"

"Did you say..." Winry breathed, and Raven could once again feel the waves of fury rolling off the girl. Frowning, she put her hands on her hips as she leaned down over Ed. "Hold on just a second! How much trouble have you gotten yourselves into this time?" she demanded.

Fidgeting uncomfortably under her gaze, Ed stuttered, "Uh... well... you see, it's..." he paused, taking in a deep breath and forcing himself to look away from her. "Well, it's nothing that concerns you," he stated firmly.

For a while, there was nothing but silence as Winry continued to glare at the back of Ed's head, trying unsuccessfully to pry an answer from him. She cast a sidelong glance at Raven in hopes that the other girl would break down and tell her some scrap of information, but the alchemist only gave her an imperceptible shake of her head. Raven knew that Winry had a tendency to overanalyze things and that she would probably image the worst-case-scenario, but in this instance, she figured that with Winry, ignorance was bliss.

Scowling, Winry straightened up and closed her eyes as she fought to control her growing annoyance. "Of course not," she muttered. "I don't know why I even bother to try. It's not like you'll talk to me anyway." Sighing, she opened her eyes and moved around the bed to the doorway. "Fine," she huffed. "I'll see you tomorrow," she said as she bent down to retrieve her toolkit, slinging it over her shoulder. "I have to go and see if I can find someplace to stay tonight."

"Come on," Hughes said jokingly. "No need for that! Why don't you spend the night at my place?" he offered.

Winry blinked once in surprise at his generosity. "Really?"

"Yes, of course," he insisted. "My wife and daughter will be delighted to have you!"

She tried to argue further, but once Hughes was dead set on having her stay at his home, there was no point in trying to convince him otherwise. He practically dragged her out of the room by her collar, carrying her toolbox on his shoulder and waving a noncommittal farewell at the perplexed officers and alchemists.

Tearing her eyes away from the empty doorway, Raven caught sight of Ed scrutinizing her carefully like a bug under a microscope. Glaring at him with an annoyed expression, she snapped, "What?"

Narrowing his eyes at her, he replied, "What were you doing with Al up on the roof? All alone?"

Grinding her teeth together, Raven rose from her seat, walked over to Ed, and cuffed him on the back of the head. "We were just talking and then we hugged! Quit making a big deal out of nothing!" she fumed.

Rubbing the back of his head, Ed retorted, "He's my younger brother! It's my job to ask questions!"

Smirking, Raven folded her arms over her chest. "I bet that you're jealous because it's yet another thing he's beaten you at," she said airily, spinning on her heel and heading for the door.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ed demanded behind her.

Her grin widened. "Well, he's more popular with the ladies, stronger than you, nicer, kinder, more thoughtful… taller," she leered over her shoulder, darting out into the hallway as he chucked his untouched bottle of milk at her. It shattered against the wall, sending white liquid spraying everything in sight and broken shards of glass littered the tile floor. Poking her head back into the room, she saw that Ed was red in the face with boiling rage, steam practically roiling out of his ears. "You'll probably have to pay for that," she teased, ducking out of the way as he proceeded to throw a chunk of crusty bread at her face. Giggling, she began making her way down the hall back toward her room. "See you tomorrow, shrimptastic!" she called over her shoulder, laughing even more as a series of curses drifted to her ears.

"You are sonever getting off the hook for this!" she distantly heard Ed shout until his voice faded completely.

As she walked slowly down the empty halls of the hospital, she found herself feeling genuinely optimistic. Things are probably going to get worse before they get better, she thought to herself, but it'll be worth it. I'm not ready to die just yet. Not before the better part comes around.